Another Final Table in the 180

Seriously, I don't know why I do it every time. I really need to work on that end game and avoid making dumb mistakes. I played some hands beautifully and then gave away all my chips like an idiot.

4/180 is not good enough !!!

I had been playing a bunch of the $4 180SNG tourneys and creeping up in finishes. 75th, 61st, 35th (still not good enough, but I did play like an idiot in some of these). Then on the fourth try I got hit by the deck. Hard.

I doubled up in the first 8 hands and kept chipping up from there. I was able to maintain my chip lead for a very long time and bully the table with it at times. My wild play got me a lot of action and people would just not believe I had a hand and call all their chips off with nothing.

I made a great play with the following hand:
POKERSTARS GAME #10971449711: TOURNAMENT #55621207, $4.00+$0.40 HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL X (400/800) - 2007/07/16 - 15:09:30 (ET)
Table '55621207 9' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: gibby8082 (39525 in chips)
Seat 2: huddibras (10870 in chips)
Seat 3: POPPO77 (15080 in chips)
Seat 4: xx4352xx (16914 in chips)
Seat 5: TOWBAR29 (34202 in chips)
Seat 6: Kajagugu (32786 in chips)
Seat 9: BuCam (23288 in chips)
gibby8082: posts the ante 50
huddibras: posts the ante 50
POPPO77: posts the ante 50
xx4352xx: posts the ante 50
TOWBAR29: posts the ante 50
Kajagugu: posts the ante 50
BuCam: posts the ante 50
TOWBAR29: posts small blind 400
Kajagugu: posts big blind 800 - I had been getting great flops in the blinds so if nobody went wild I was going to see a flop again.
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Kajagugu [Ah 8h] - not bad I guess.
BuCam: raises 800 to 1600 - this guy was butting heads with me a lot. He was pretty good, so a min-raise could probably signal that he wanted me or someone else to re-raise.
gibby8082: folds
huddibras: folds
POPPO77: folds
xx4352xx: folds
TOWBAR29: calls 1200 - SB calls so I am now definitely priced in as well.
Kajagugu: calls 800 - I make the call and hope for a good flop.
*** FLOP *** [5s 7d 8d] - flop is good. Let's see what happens.
TOWBAR29: checks
Kajagugu: bets 2400 - feeler bet of about 1/3 pot to see where I am.
BuCam: raises 2400 to 4800 - soooooo, he has an overpair. I am not worried about a set because no way would he min-raise with a low pair UTG.
TOWBAR29: folds
Kajagugu: calls 2400 - I have good odds to call and might get lucky here.
*** TURN *** [5s 7d 8d] [8s] - I get lucky!
Kajagugu: bets 8800 - I decide to bet my top set top kicker, because if he has an overpair he is screwed. This will also disguise the fact I made the set.
BuCam: calls 8800 - I like the call. Maybe a reraise would get more money in, but the call is great.
*** RIVER *** [5s 7d 8d 8s] [8c] - Whaaaaaaaaa????
Kajagugu: bets 8037 - I hoy the villain. I actually hit the time button for a few seconds to make it look like I had a pair here that made a boat.
BuCam: raises 1 to 8038 and is all-in
Kajagugu: calls 1
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BuCam: shows [Qs Qc] (a full house, Eights full of Queens) - My read was right on!
Kajagugu: shows [Ah 8h] (four of a kind, Eights)
Kajagugu said, "sorry man"
Kajagugu collected 48426 from pot
Kajagugu said, "gg"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 48426 | Rake 0
Board [5s 7d 8d 8s 8c]
Seat 1: gibby8082 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: huddibras folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: POPPO77 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: xx4352xx (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: TOWBAR29 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: Kajagugu (big blind) showed [Ah 8h] and won (48426) with four of a kind, Eights
Seat 9: BuCam showed [Qs Qc] and lost with a full house, Eights full of Queens



So that was a tough spot for my opponent but he played this all wrong. The min-raise on pre-flop was bad. The min-raise on the flop was bad. Bad call on the turn, bad call on the river. Sure, this is a hard hand to get away from, but he just kept pricing me in.

Ok, so I get to the final table with a serious stack, we get down to four handed and things go haywire. I pay off a luck-sack when he flopped a boradway after calling a big raise with QTo. Yummy. I win a big pot with presto against Ah9h with no hearts on the board. I win another couple of big pots with total bluffs in position. I am now the first player over T100K and decide to dump it all with stupid plays.

1) UTG limps, I raise 4xBB to 8K with 88 on the button, SB calls, BB raises to 28K leaving 28K behind. I shove, SB folds, BB calls with TT. Booooooo. I really thought he was re-stealing.

2) I steal some more and then lose half my stack to the BB who slow played KK to my A3s in the BB. I love battles of the blinds. They hurt soooooo much.

3) Next hand I get AdQd in the SB. Guy from the TT hand is now the button and raises to 8K, I shove the rest of my stack in (about 24K) and he calls with AK. KTdX on the flop gives me a chance for a straight and back door flush, but it doesn't arrive and I am out in 4th place.

Maybe Hoyazo was right about my over-aggro play late in tournaments. I'm kidding, I know he's right.

Points for improvement:

1) Bluff less. I was going to actually say "don't bluff" because some idiots call with anything. But I think I need to just tone it down and find better spots against bluffable players.

2) Slow down. Think it through and count to 10 before making a move. Use the time clock to think things through.

3) Think of my image. If I am wild and crazy I will get called more often and I need to find the right spots.